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64 The PCB Design Magazine • January 2016 by Judy Warner Zentech Manufacturing In the past year, I stopped procrastinating about attending my local chapter meetings of the IPC Designers Council in Southern Califor- nia. My friend Scott McCurdy of Freedom CAD had been gently nudging me for months be- fore I finally made it to my first meeting back in March. Scott has been running the Orange County DC Chapter for 12 years and has turned it into the largest chapter in the country. Know- ing this, I was still shocked when I walked into a room packed with 77 people. Furthermore, I was captivated by the speaker for that day, Tom Hausherr of PCB Libraries. I know little about the dynamics that go into component libraries, since my tenure has been in the fabrication and assembly side of the business. Yet, Tom's information was clear and accessible—even to me. On that day, I made a new friend and became a fan of Tom's. So, when fate placed us both at PCB West, we made sure to carve out some time together. Tom agreed to have a long breakfast with me so I could learn more about the challeng- es related to component libraries and how his company addresses these issues. So, pull up a chair and join us for a chat. Judy Warner: Tom, there are CAD libraries every- where. Manufacturers offer free libraries on their web- sites. How is PCB Libraries different? Tom Hausherr: Unlike canned libraries that are everywhere (we've offered them before) but found that most of our users do not really use them. All of our parts are dynamically custom- ized with unique user preferences. Users get parts with their desired rotation, tolerance, pad shapes, linewidths, and desired colors for 3D STEP models, and dozens of other customiz- able features. The part data from PCB Libraries interview Catching up with Tom Hausherr of PCB Libraries Tom Hausherr